Chair & Co-Chairs
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell is Chair of the DPCC. She represents the 6th District of Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before being elected to Congress, Debbie was the Chair of the Wayne State University (WSU) Board of Governors. An active civic and community leader, she is a recognized national advocate for women and children.
For more than 30 years Debbie served one of Michigan’s largest employers, the General Motors (GM) Corporation, where she was President of the GM Foundation and a senior executive responsible for public affairs. In her commitment to job creation, Debbie led the effort to bring the 10,000 Small Businesses initiative, a $20 million partnership designed to help create jobs and economic growth, to southeast Michigan. She is a past chair of the Manufacturing Initiative at the American Automotive Policy Council.
With values instilled by her Catholic education, Debbie’s activism took root in her passion for issues important to women and children. She successfully fought to have women included in federally-funded health research, and advocated for greater awareness of issues directly related to women’s health, including breast cancer and women's heart health. She is a founder and past chair of the National Women’s Health Resource Center and the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has served on numerous boards related to women’s issues including the advisory boards for the NIH Panel for Women’s Research, the Michigan Women's Economic Club, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the board of the Michigan Women's Foundation. She was a co-founder of both the first Race for the Cures in Michigan and in Washington, D.C.
The first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress, Maxwell Alejandro Frost is proud to represent the people of Central Florida (FL-10) in the United States House of Representatives. As a young Member of Congress and Afro-Latino, Congressman Frost brings a fresh, progressive perspective to an institution formerly out of reach for young, working Black and Latino Americans. A former organizer, musician, and community activist, Frost was inspired to get to work at 15 years old after the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary claimed the lives of 26 innocent people. From that moment on, Congressman Frost dedicated his life to fighting against gun violence and empowering communities across Florida and the U.S. to get behind gun reform, going on to hold leadership roles at ACLU and eventually March for Our Lives, where he served as National Organizing Director. In Congress, Frost is committed to representing the people of his hometown in Central Florida and being their voice in Washington, D.C.
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood is Co-Chair of the DPCC.
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood serves Illinois' 14th Congressional District and was first sworn into Congress on January 3, 2019. She is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress.
Rep. Underwood is a registered nurse and co-founder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, which addresses America's Black Maternal Health crisis in Congress and advances policy solutions to improve maternal health outcomes and end disparities.
Prior to her election to Congress, Rep. Underwood served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), helping communities across the country prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters, bioterror threats, and public health emergencies. As a career public servant at HHS, she also helped implement the Affordable Care Act, broadening access for those on Medicare, improving health care quality, and reforming private insurance. Rep. Underwood has taught future nurse practitioners through Georgetown University's online master's program and worked with a Medicaid plan in Chigago to ensure it provided high-quality, cost-effective care.
She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University, and a lifelong Girl Scout. Rep. Underwood resides in Naperville, Illinois.
Congresswoman Lori Trahan is Co-Chair of the DPCC.
Congresswoman Lori Trahan proudly represents Massachusetts' Third Congressional District, made up of 35 cities and towns including her hometown of Lowell. The granddaughter of Brazilian and Portuguese immigrants, she is the first Portuguese American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Trahan grew up in a working-class family with her dad working long, hard hours as a union ironworker and her mom juggling multiple part-time jobs while caring for her and her three sisters. She is a proud graduate of the Lowell Public School System, and although her family could not afford to send her to college, Rep. Trahan secured a volleyball scholarship to Georgetown University where she became the first in her family to graduate from a four-year college. Shortly before her graduation, Rep. Trahan's father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis, and she moved home to help care for him.
While in Lowell, she began her career in public service working for her hometown congressman, eventually working her way up to Chief of Staff. After a decade of serving the district she grew up in, Rep. Trahan took on a new challenge in the private sector as the only female executive at a tech company. Her passion for bringing women into leadership positions led her to co-found a women-owned-and-operated consulting firm that advised various companies on business strategy and how to create ideal conditions for employees - especially women - to thrive.
Rep. Trahan decided to run for Congress in 2018, the first time she had ever sought public office, because she wanted to expand economic opportunities for families like the one she grew up in and create a better country for her two young daughters. She serves as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee where she has focused her efforts on tackling the addiction crisis, increasing access to mental health care, creating good paying jobs, and protecting American consumers.
Rep. Trahan and her husband Dave live in Westford, Massachusetts where they are raising their two daughters, Grace and Caroline, while keeping tabs on their three grown boys, Thomas, Dean, and Christian.